San Jose State suicide: Freshman's family files $11 million claim

SAN JOSE -- The parents of a freshman who hanged himself in his San Jose State dorm room filed a claim Wednesday seeking $11 million from the university, alleging that campus police and resident advisers who interviewed their distressed son just hours before his death should have done far more to prevent his suicide.

It is the second time in the past year that the commuter college has been accused of botching its duty to protect the small percentage of students who live on campus. Only 3,000 of San Jose State's 30,000 students live in dorms.

A San Jose State spokeswoman said the university hadn't received and does not generally comment on pending claims, which if denied typically lead to a civil lawsuit.

Brenden Tiggs; Courtesy of Tiggs family

The action by 18-year-old freshman Brenden Tiggs' family follows a similar negligence claim filed by the family of Donald Williams Jr, alleging that the university ignored clear warning signs last fall that the then-17-year-old black freshman was being racially bullied by four of his white suite mates. News that the freshman reported being tormented relentlessly for weeks at a college that prides itself on diversity sparked community outrage, an internal investigation, an apology from the university president and the creation of a task force on campus racial tensions.

The head of San Jose State's task force said Wednesday that said the circumstances of Tiggs' death raise more questions about whether the university is doing enough to monitor and safeguard the students who live in its seven dorms. Tiggs was also black, though it does not appear race played a role in his treatment.

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"The issue is whether the existing policies and procedures were followed, and whether or not they are sufficient," said LaDoris Cordell, a retired judge and official San Jose police auditor who heads the task force. "In a situation like this, where the student is emotionally distressed, the key is having mental health professionals on call to do an assessment."

Tiggs had been an honors student and football player at the private Catholic school St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco and was carrying a 3.95 grade average after his first term at San Jose State. His body was found about 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning on Feb. 9, hanging from the upper bunk of his room in the tower dorm known as Joe West.

About 10 hours before, Tiggs had showed up at the front door of his dorm shortly after 1 a.m., disheveled and stumbling drunk, according to the claim. Two resident advisers recognized him and let him in. They knew he was under the legal age for drinking, the claim alleges, but escorted him anyway in a severely intoxicated state to his girlfriend's room.

After talking with him and his girlfriend, they called campus police. Two officers arrived, one of whom was wearing a "body camera" that captured what happened next on video, Tiggs' lawyer Carl Douglas said.

The officers were apparently concerned enough to advise a drunk and tearful Tiggs of campus counseling services, but then concluded he did not need to be seen by a mental health professional and left. Tiggs returned to his room, took a shower and eventually hanged himself.

"What troubles me," Douglas said, "is the protocol can't be for university police and resident advisers to take him to his girlfriend's room, offer him mental health services and never check up on him in the morning."

The university did not explain its protocol Wednesday.

The day after Tiggs died, a few hundred students gathered that Monday night for a candlelight vigil outside Joe West Hall. University President President Mohammad Qayoumi had informed students and employees of the popular student's death in an email, and ironically offered them free counseling services.

Declining to comment directly on the claim, Tiggs' father, Gary, said the loss of their only son and his younger sister's only sibling has been devastating. He is a software engineer, and his mother, Denise, is a nurse.

"I just hope no one else loses their son when they send him off to college," his father said. "It's a nightmare every day."